Rules Tip of the Day: A permanent with a protection ability cannot have permanents with the protected quality attached to it at any time.

Q: If I have a Magus of the Abyss, will Privileged Position prevent me from having to destroy my own creatures?

A: No, because you control Magus of the Abyss. Privileged Position prevents your permanents from being targeted by spells and abilities that your opponent controls. It does not prevent you from targeting your permanent with spells and abilities you control. At the beginning of each of your upkeep steps, the ability of your Magus of the Abyss will trigger, and you will have to target a creature you control.

Q: Recently I was watching a game between two friends and it came to light that no one was sure how a Replicated spell interacts with Bitter Ordeal's Gravestorm ability. We know that Replicate puts the spell right on the stack, but do these copies go to the graveyard before disappearing, upping the Gravestorm count?

A: The Gravestorm abiltiy only counts the number of permanents that go to the graveyard. Permanents are cards or tokens that are in play. It does not count spells that leave the stack and go to the graveyard. So the Gravestorm ability will not count the Replicate copies, nor will it count the original spell.

Q: I target an Epochrasite in play with Saffi Eriksdotter's ability and the Epochrasite dies; what happens?

A: The Epochrasite will return to play when the delayed triggered ability created by Saffi's ability resolves. As you did not play this Epochrasite from your hand, its comes-into-play ability will be applied and it will get three +1/+1 counters. Epochrasite will get these counters any time it comes into play and was not played from your hand. It does not have to be played to get these counters.

Q: I have a Quirion Dryad and a Narcomoeba in play. If the Narcomoeba dies (and returns to play), does the Dryad get a +1/+1 counter?

A: No. You did not play a spell. The Narcomoeba is put into play when its triggered ability resolves. Abilities do not trigger the Dryad's ability.

Q: I use Tooth and Nail with Entwine and put Volcano Hellion and Stuffy Doll into play. I have less life than my opponent. Can I still win by assigning 20 damage to myself and Stuffy Doll? Will Stuffy Doll's ability kill my opponent before Volcano Hellion's ability kills me?

A: No. Stuffy Doll's ability does not deal damage to the chosen player until its ability resolves. When Tooth and Nail resolves, each of these creatures will come into play. You can choose your opponent as the person affected by your Stuffy Doll and the Stuffy Doll as the target of the Volcano Hellion's coming into play triggered ability. You can choose to have this ability deal 20 points of damage to you and the Stuffy Doll. This will cause Stuffy Doll's ability to trigger. But before this ability can go on the stack, state-based effects will be checked. At this point, you will have a life total below zero, and you will lose the game.

Q: A player plays a Terramorphic Expanse, and a Gruul Turf on the next turn. In response to bouncing the Terramorphic Expanse, could he tap and sacrifice it to accelerate his mana base?

A: No. The ability of the "bounce lands" from Ravnica block do not target. You choose a land you control in play to return to your hand when the ability resolves. You cannot cause this ability to become countered on resolution (though it can be countered with Stifle or Trickbind). In this example, this player will have to either return the searched-for land or the Gruul Turf to his hand.

Q: If I have a Yore-Tiller Nephilim in play and no creature in my graveyard, does that mean I can't attack with it since I can't return any creature from my graveyard?

A: You can still attack with it. Its ability does not prevent it from attacking. However, when it attacks, since you cannot target a creature card in your graveyard, the ability will leave the stack without doing anything.

Q: If I play a Storm spell like Empty the Warrens or Tendrils Of Agony with the mana from Boseiju, Who Shelters All, can the Storm trigger be countered with Stifle or Trickbind?

A: Yes. The effect from Boseiju's ability prevents the spell itself from being countered, but it does not prevent any abilities of this spell from being countered.

Q: I was playing a casual games the other day and countered a Stitch Together with Intervene. Does that work?

A: No, it does not. Stitch Together targets a creature card in a graveyard, not a creature. Creatures only exist in play, in any other zone they are creature cards.